Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit to Delhi had mixed results on day one on Saturday as he made an oral presentation of the State’s requirements including the promises made in the A.P. Reorganisation Act before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In all, the Chief Minister had put forward a wish-list of 21 demands before Mr Modi and the TRS MPs, who accompanied Mr. Rao, termed the meeting as “positive and encouraging”. “The Prime Minister heard Mr Rao patiently and responded to issues with positive vibes. The meeting lasted for over 35 minutes”, TRS MP B. Vinod Kumar, who was present at the meeting told The Hindu.
The Chief Minister read out his wish-list point by point and at the end submitted a representation to the Prime Minister. Interestingly, the contentious issue of extraordinary powers sought to be conferred on the Governor in maintenance of law and order in Hyderabad, the common capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana did not figure in the discussions.
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On the State’s demand for 500 MW power from the un-allotted central pool, the Prime Minister assured to examine it and on the bifurcation of High Court, Mr. Modi assured to take up the matter with the concerned, Mr. Vinod Kumar said. On the demand for granting special status to Telangana, Mr Modi is said to have assured that the Centre would look into the matter keeping in mind the two States (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh).
Other demands of Telangana were: national project status to Pranahitha-Chevella, setting up 4,000 MW thermal power plant by NTPC, allocation of coal for it, sanctioning industrial corridors in Hyderabad-Nagpur and Hyderabad-Warangal sectors, an integrated steel plant at Bayyaram, setting up a 1,000 MW solar power park in Mahabubnagar district, setting up IIM and AIIMS, allocation of funds for setting up water grid.
Mr. Rao took some time to explain the salient features of the intensive household survey taken up in Telangana. Mr. Modi, it was said, asked Mr. Rao to send a report on it assuring that he would go through it.
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Earlier, the Chief Minister invited Mr. Modi to either inaugurate Metropolis- the World Mayors’ conference to be held here in October. If the Prime Minister could not make it to the inaugural, he could at least attend the valedictory, Mr Rao requested.
Later, the Chief Minister called on President Pranab Mukherjee and invited him to attend the Metropolis meet. Mr. Rao also called on Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goyal and discussed the issues related to bifurcation of High Court and power. The Chief Minister is scheduled to meet Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Smriti Irani on Sunday.